Link to the previous chapter - The Unstrange - Prologue - http://incrementalobservations.blogspot.in/2012/07/unstrange-prologue.html
Kara Johnathan was a shy girl. She had very little or no social life and a hectic job. She worked with US Geological Survey (USGS) as a Geophysicist. Her job involved traveling to different locations of the world to carry out experiments related to Earth and its environment. She had built upon a decent reputation in her department and that too at a young age of twenty seven. Her latest project was based in parched red deserts of Australia. It was investigating the geological properties of the land that attract the local monitor lizards called Goanna that can grow up to 6 feet long. Her camp was located in the middle of the desert 160 Km north of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
The base camp of USGS near Alice Springs could hardly be called a base camp because of its size. It was a tent for two really. The two people residing in it were Kara and her assistant Mary. Mary was straight out of college, working as an intern in USGS. It was her first project and she was really excited about it. Unlike Kara, Mary was an extrovert. The whole trip to the Australian desert was planned by Mary only and on the way, she had been of great help to Kara. Mary did everything on the back end so that Kara could concentrate just on her research. Only one thing that bothered Kara about Mary that Mary talked too much. Just last night she wouldn't stop talking about her last year in college and all the things she did with all the boys. But on other hand, after all that happened to her last year, Kara needed someone like Mary to concentrate and also to cheer up.
Three years ago, Kara was just like Mary, working as an intern in the USGS, fresh out of her post graduation. She had amazing grades and her research on the relationship between the physics of the geographical area and the inherent behavior of that area was termed as "neo-dimensional" in the field of geophysics. She was immediately sent of to Alaska to assist another young scientist, Dr. Mathew Harrington. Mathew was just 28 then and was leading a team of five on the exploration of glacial properties of the Kuskokwim Mountains. The worst thing about that trip was that Kara was afraid of heights. The fear was not that much but, on the mountains it was exemplified.
"You look so white." was the first thing that Mathew said to Kara, after their formal introduction. "Sit down. I will make you some hot chocolate. Well its not that cold really. What is the matter?"
"Acrophobia" said Kara, a bit under the sun, and that was it, everything was settled.
Mathew was small, maybe 5 feet 7 inches. He had lovely eyes though, color of the sky, such that when he would stand in the glaring sun with clear sky and just pure white snow in the background, his eyes would mix with the sky. His features were sharp though, of square jaw, a perfect nose and thin lips. He maintained his calm under all situations. He was a good leader too. Kara never felt any kind of pressure under him, except when standing near a cliff. Matt was good to her at all times. Kara had gained a special kind of respect for him. After working for a year under Matt, Kara got a promotion. Matt recommended that for the extraordinary field work. Now, rather than being an assistant to Matt, Kara became his partner. Half a year later, Kara and Matt published a path breaking paper on revision of Deterministic Non-periodic Flow, applying butterfly effect to earthquakes. About this time, the professional relationship developed into a personal one. Kara fell in love with Matt. She realized this when Matt was away on an exploration to India. This was their first project in which they were not together after almost two years. Kara decided that she would propose after Matt returns from India so as not to distract him from the most important project in his life.
The project on which Matt was working on was highly confidential. He had told nothing about it to Kara except that is was for the government of India and they were paying him a huge amount for it. He was sworn to secrecy and was not allowed to talk about the project to anyone or disclose his location to anyone. The duration of project was tentatively 2 months. It was 4 months now and there had been no contact from him whatsoever. Kara tried to contact him but his mobile phone was unreachable. She tried calling in the USGS office in New Delhi, but they wouldn't reveal the details. His family was worried. They finally got a call from Matt after he got the news that they had been checking in. He tried to explain the secrecy situation to them and said that he couldn't come back home any time sooner. He also said that the work there was extraordinary. What he meant, nobody could guess. After 3 days from this call, Matt's family got another call from India, this time from the Indian government officials notifying that their son was killed in a car accident in the high regions of Himalayas.
Kara was shocked and devastated as were Matt's family members. Kara had not loved another man ever in her life. The amount sadness that incident caused to her was unbearable for her. The details of the accident were kept secret by the Indian authorities as it might disclose what Matt was working on. This was a shock for both Kara and Matt's family. Although an explanation from Indian government was issued that the car fell from a cliff into a river in the Uttarakhand region of India. The body was recovered from the banks of the river and was not in a good shape. The face was swollen and was barely recognizable but the body was wearing the same clothes and had same belongings as Dr. Harrington. In the subsequent days body was returned to the family.
Kara and Mary were returning to their camp from a hard day's work in the desert. This was when Mary's Sat Phone started beeping.
"I am getting a call from an unknown frequency. I don't know whether I am supposed to pick this up or not." said Mary, utter confusion on her face.
"Pick it up, it might be from USGS's hidden frequencies. Put it on speaker, it might be for me." said Kara.
"This is team Kappa from Alice Springs, who might this be?" answered Mary attending the call.
"Kara help--" was the only voice that came through before the call got disconnected. It was enough for Kara though, who stood there, hands on her face, mouth wide open. It was the voice of Matt Harrington.
Kara Johnathan was a shy girl. She had very little or no social life and a hectic job. She worked with US Geological Survey (USGS) as a Geophysicist. Her job involved traveling to different locations of the world to carry out experiments related to Earth and its environment. She had built upon a decent reputation in her department and that too at a young age of twenty seven. Her latest project was based in parched red deserts of Australia. It was investigating the geological properties of the land that attract the local monitor lizards called Goanna that can grow up to 6 feet long. Her camp was located in the middle of the desert 160 Km north of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia.
The base camp of USGS near Alice Springs could hardly be called a base camp because of its size. It was a tent for two really. The two people residing in it were Kara and her assistant Mary. Mary was straight out of college, working as an intern in USGS. It was her first project and she was really excited about it. Unlike Kara, Mary was an extrovert. The whole trip to the Australian desert was planned by Mary only and on the way, she had been of great help to Kara. Mary did everything on the back end so that Kara could concentrate just on her research. Only one thing that bothered Kara about Mary that Mary talked too much. Just last night she wouldn't stop talking about her last year in college and all the things she did with all the boys. But on other hand, after all that happened to her last year, Kara needed someone like Mary to concentrate and also to cheer up.
Three years ago, Kara was just like Mary, working as an intern in the USGS, fresh out of her post graduation. She had amazing grades and her research on the relationship between the physics of the geographical area and the inherent behavior of that area was termed as "neo-dimensional" in the field of geophysics. She was immediately sent of to Alaska to assist another young scientist, Dr. Mathew Harrington. Mathew was just 28 then and was leading a team of five on the exploration of glacial properties of the Kuskokwim Mountains. The worst thing about that trip was that Kara was afraid of heights. The fear was not that much but, on the mountains it was exemplified.
"You look so white." was the first thing that Mathew said to Kara, after their formal introduction. "Sit down. I will make you some hot chocolate. Well its not that cold really. What is the matter?"
"Acrophobia" said Kara, a bit under the sun, and that was it, everything was settled.
Mathew was small, maybe 5 feet 7 inches. He had lovely eyes though, color of the sky, such that when he would stand in the glaring sun with clear sky and just pure white snow in the background, his eyes would mix with the sky. His features were sharp though, of square jaw, a perfect nose and thin lips. He maintained his calm under all situations. He was a good leader too. Kara never felt any kind of pressure under him, except when standing near a cliff. Matt was good to her at all times. Kara had gained a special kind of respect for him. After working for a year under Matt, Kara got a promotion. Matt recommended that for the extraordinary field work. Now, rather than being an assistant to Matt, Kara became his partner. Half a year later, Kara and Matt published a path breaking paper on revision of Deterministic Non-periodic Flow, applying butterfly effect to earthquakes. About this time, the professional relationship developed into a personal one. Kara fell in love with Matt. She realized this when Matt was away on an exploration to India. This was their first project in which they were not together after almost two years. Kara decided that she would propose after Matt returns from India so as not to distract him from the most important project in his life.
The project on which Matt was working on was highly confidential. He had told nothing about it to Kara except that is was for the government of India and they were paying him a huge amount for it. He was sworn to secrecy and was not allowed to talk about the project to anyone or disclose his location to anyone. The duration of project was tentatively 2 months. It was 4 months now and there had been no contact from him whatsoever. Kara tried to contact him but his mobile phone was unreachable. She tried calling in the USGS office in New Delhi, but they wouldn't reveal the details. His family was worried. They finally got a call from Matt after he got the news that they had been checking in. He tried to explain the secrecy situation to them and said that he couldn't come back home any time sooner. He also said that the work there was extraordinary. What he meant, nobody could guess. After 3 days from this call, Matt's family got another call from India, this time from the Indian government officials notifying that their son was killed in a car accident in the high regions of Himalayas.
Kara was shocked and devastated as were Matt's family members. Kara had not loved another man ever in her life. The amount sadness that incident caused to her was unbearable for her. The details of the accident were kept secret by the Indian authorities as it might disclose what Matt was working on. This was a shock for both Kara and Matt's family. Although an explanation from Indian government was issued that the car fell from a cliff into a river in the Uttarakhand region of India. The body was recovered from the banks of the river and was not in a good shape. The face was swollen and was barely recognizable but the body was wearing the same clothes and had same belongings as Dr. Harrington. In the subsequent days body was returned to the family.
Kara and Mary were returning to their camp from a hard day's work in the desert. This was when Mary's Sat Phone started beeping.
"I am getting a call from an unknown frequency. I don't know whether I am supposed to pick this up or not." said Mary, utter confusion on her face.
"Pick it up, it might be from USGS's hidden frequencies. Put it on speaker, it might be for me." said Kara.
"This is team Kappa from Alice Springs, who might this be?" answered Mary attending the call.
"Kara help--" was the only voice that came through before the call got disconnected. It was enough for Kara though, who stood there, hands on her face, mouth wide open. It was the voice of Matt Harrington.
